A convicted drunk driver uses his story to educate teenagers about the consequences of drinking and driving.  In a story in the Washington Post, a fatal auto accident in Rockville, Maryland is revisited as well as what the drunk driver has done in an attempt to make peace with what happened.

Federal car accident statistics show that over 3,500 teenage drivers and passengers are killed in auto accidents each year, and drunk driving is a leading cause of wrongful death as teenagers experiment with alcohol and often think they can still drive.

Drunk driver of fatal auto accident uses his story to try and prevent drunk driving.

It was 2005, and one man was driving home from a fraternity party at the University of Maryland.  He had taken shots of vodka earlier in the evening and drank from a keg — both of which led to an almost inevitable situation.

At the party, the man met a young lady, a high schooler from Baltimore.  While enjoying themselves, the young lady lost track of her friends.  The man took the young lady back to his friend’s house, and after realizing a key code was needed to get in, the young man had to choose between three alternatives:

  • Take her back to the party.
  • Drop her off somewhere in College Park, Maryland to find her friends.
  • Drive with her to her parents’ house in Derwood, Maryland — 25 miles away.

No matter which decision he made, they all involved drunk driving.  While en route to her parents’ house in Derwood, his car swerved on Route 355 onto a Rockville sidewalk, hit a concrete barrier and crashed into a pole at College Parkway.  The young man was wearing a seat belt, but the young lady was not and the crash caused her to go through the windshield and resulted in her wrongful death.

The man tells audiences that alcohol clouded his judgment and led to drunk driving.  He talks about what happened to him after: two different jails, probation, house arrest, suicidal tendencies and his discharge from the Marine Corps.  According to details from the Washington Post, McCoy did his first speech in April of 2007 and has continued doing so 17 months and 72 appearances beyond what the court mandated.

He tells the Washington Post that he regrets his mistake every day and wishes that his wrongful death happened in the crash.

“I think about her family every day of my life,” he says, who is now 24.  “I think about her every single day of my life.”

Stories like these are understandably tragic.  A young teenager’s life ended by a drunk driver before it really got started.  Nothing can change the past, but hopefully, his message will prevent future fatal drunk driving automobile accidents.

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